The Buzz Feiten Tempered Tuning system is something that has, from it's inception, attracted controversy.
Sadly, most of the controversy has not centred upon the system's technical and logical rationale, about which I have some serious concerns, but about the allegation that Feiten has attempted to patent an idea that is already common currency in the guitar making world. This would seem to me to have more to do with the resentment felt by Feiten's detractors at having been bested by someone who has come from outside the closed world of arcane secrets of luthierie than any constructive critique of the logic and reasoning behind the system itself.
The problem in formulating any such critique however is that before anyone can understand why the Feiten system is such a technical blind alley it's necessary to have an in depth understanding of the physics and psycho-acoustics of the guitar and this is something the average guitarist has no more idea of than the average driver understands the finer details crankshaft stress analysis in internal combustion engines.
So, before beginning to talk about the flaws in the Feiten system it's necessary to understand why it is we perceive the guitar as sounding "out of tune" in the first place.
